Workout Strategies for Holiday Cheer

By now you likely have your holiday travel plans in place and are greatly anticipating/secretly dreading your trip to visit family/visit family (or maybe you're headed to Mexico, in which case---can I come?). Since you'll be away from the gym for a few days, surely this means you'll put your workout routine on hiatus.

But you don't have to abandon exercise all together. Remember that the reason we go to the gym at all is that modern conveniences like cars and remote controls have eliminated the need ever to get up off our asses. Fortunately, there's plenty to do over the holidays to help you meet your movement quota:

• Dig your grandpa's car out when, trying to pull out of the driveway, he plows into a snowbank.
• Go for an invigorating outdoor stroll when your parents start espousing the gospel of Glenn Beck.
• Cheerfully agree to pitch in whenever your Gossip Girl DVD marathon is interrupting by someone asking that you set the table, take the dog out, or break up your little cousins' screaming match.
• Fake a headache and, while shutting yourself in a room to get away from everyone, squeeze in some push-ups and squats.
• Use last-minute shopping as an excuse to walk the mall (those prone to elevated blood pressure should be sure to avoid meandering double-wide-stroller pushers).

So you see, there's no excuse not to work out over the holidays. And if you decide to stay in town this season, you should have the gym mostly to yourself. At least until January 1st.

Weights are for Boys, Cardio is for Girls...Apparently.

More than any other club in which I've worked, my current health club has a segregated layout of free weights on one end of the room, cardio machines on the opposite end. Now that winter is upon us and people are moving their workouts indoors, I've noticed an emerging trend: men clogging the weight area, and women crowding the cardio equipment. It's really brought to light something I hear regularly from female gym members discussing their goals. I don't lift weights because I don't want to bulk up.

Having spent nine years in the fitness profession, it's kind of shocking that this myth pervades---even more so that so many women buy into it. Now, I understand that many potential clients only want to emphasize their desired result, typically toned but small muscles. But a majority seem genuinely fearful that picking up a weight over 5 pounds will turn them into the Hulk.

This myth is perpetuated by women's magazines with their baby dumbbell workouts and celebrities who boast that they got their bodies doing only yoga. It's encouraged by informercials hawking products that will produce abs of steel without picking up a single weight. The fact is, we live in a culture saturated with messages about how to get fit delivered by individuals more interested in their profit than your results. It's about time someone cleared the confusion and delivered the facts.

So here's the deal: strength training will not give you gargantuan muscles any more than it will give you superpowers. To put on mass, you need three things regardless of how heavy you lift: a high-volume regimen (think 6 days a week, multiple exercises per muscle group, etc.), nutrition specific to building muscle tissue, and testosterone. That's right. Testosterone. It's a hormone that all women possess in small quantities, but we don't have nearly enough to support significant muscle growth. Those bodybuilding chicks you're picturing? They likely supplement with it (and other things) in order to get those results.

You may be thinking, wait a minute---I've lifted weights, and I always notice that my legs get bigger. Odds are you're training like a bodybuilder, doing isolated moves like leg extensions in addition to heavier compound movements like leg presses. If you desire a slimmer, leaner look, consider training like an athlete: choose compound movements, particularly bodyweight exercises like lunges, push-ups, step-ups, and dips. If your goal is to lose weight/tone up, there's no reason you need to spend time on machine exercises or isolated movements when you should be getting your heart rate up, burning calories, and moving your entire body.

If you work out this way, you'll burn fat and tone up all over, not hulk out. So the next time you're working out, ladies, consider joining the guys by the free weights. It's a gym, not a seventh-grade dance.

One Holiday Meal Down, 30 Miles on the Treadmill to Go

It's the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday, and this evening health clubs everywhere will be jam-packed with remorseful, food-hungover gym-goers attempting to exorcise (almost a pun!) their Turkey Day demons. If you're planning on working out tonight, better get there early, as every elliptical will be occupied by some twenty-something woman furiously pedaling off that third piece of pumpkin pie, and every bench press will be taken up by some guy sweating that cup of gravy. It won't be pretty. Which is too bad, because all that hard work isn't going to tip the calorie-balance scales in anyone's favor.

It's said that the average American puts away 3,000 calories at Thanksgiving dinner and easily eats 4,500 calories on the day. A 150-lb person burns little more than 100 calories for every 10 minutes he or she spends on a cardio machine, which means that the 500-600 calories burned in an hourlong workout---the workout you'd do even if you hadn't binged over the weekend---are kind of pointless when it comes to restoring calorie balance.

Now that's not to say you shouldn't work out tonight---only that you shouldn't expect it to be your salvation. What takes far less effort and is far more effective in terms of atoning for Thanksgiving excess is simply cutting back on total calories for the next week or so. You're not going to run 5 miles every single day, but you can easily trim 500 calories from your daily intake, whether by drinking less soda or having yogurt and fruit for breakfast instead of a bagel with cream cheese.

This should get you back in balance just in time for next weekend, when you can once again ruin all your hard work at the gym with a plate of hot wings and 10 or 12 beers. Salud!

The Flu is Here. It Lives in Your Health Club.

I'm not sure if it's flu-induced fear that's driving this trend, but I can't help but notice a vast bump in the number of gym-goers cleaning up after themselves. Suddenly, stair climbers are stepping up to wipe down sweaty palm prints from the rails, while incline pressers are taking care to erase greasy head stains from the bench.

And while I appreciate the uptick in courtesy, I wish this were a regular thing and not a mere expression of H1N1 hysteria. I mean, isn't it always a bit disgusting to leave sweat puddles on the mats, regardless of which microorganisms might be lurking in them? It's great to want to protect yourself from contracting something from grimy gym equipment, but I still think it's more important to consider the next person.

So the next time you hop off the treadmill after a run or finish that last set of skullcrushers, take a few seconds to locate the nearest bottle of disinfectant spray. Then use it. The next person will thank you.

The Pencil Test

Admit it: at one time or another you've probably (at least in your head) made fun of that guy at your gym who does nothing but bench press. You know, the monosyllabic-looking fellow who's so puffed up in the chest it looks like he can't put his arms down. That beefed-up appearance is known to exercise professionals as internal rotation, where the arms turn inward at the shoulders, causing the palms of the hands to face backward, gorilla-like.

What you might not know is that there's no missing link between you and this ape---most of us suffer this affliction to some degree. A consequence of hunching over our computer screens and steering wheels, internal rotation is characterized by tight chest muscles and forward-rounding shoulders. Men in particular, those who exercise only the "glamour muscles" (courtesy of Dennis on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) such as the chest, lats, and biceps may end up with this appearance.

Aside from looking like a primate, this kind of muscle imbalance commonly results in neck pain and headaches. No one wants that. So how can you tell if it's happening to you?

Try the pencil test: stand facing a mirror with a pencil in each fist and arms at your sides. If the pencils point straight forward, you're good. If the pencils point inward toward your thighs, then you have internal rotation. To correct it, spend time stretching your chest muscles (ask a trainer for technique) as well as strengthening your upper back with rows. The seated row is great for beginners; even better is the inverted row (put the bar of the Smith machine to chest or waist height, hang under it with body in a straight line, and pull your chest to the bar, like a horizontal pull up) or dumbbell iso-row.

And to all you bench-press devotees, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you'll need to lay off the chest workouts for a few weeks (think 4-8) while you focus on strengthening your upper back. The good news? Get these antagonist muscle groups into better balance, and you should be stronger at pressing exercises when you resume them.

When Life Gets in the Way

As the holiday season draws near, I'm reminded of how incredibly challenging it is to maintain our workouts (never mind our diets) amidst after-work parties and family functions. This time of year, making time for exercise is about as likely as crafting thoughtful homemade gifts for everyone on your list.

All procrastination aside, sometimes fitting in a workout is just not feasible. But rather than give up all together until after January 1st, consider the alternative: you can get just as much out of a 30-minute workout as many people get in 90 minutes at the gym. The trick is to work out smarter.

Two or three times a week, carve out a half hour of "me" time, whether at home or at the health club. Then don't stop moving. Choose 6-8 exercises, twto of which are cardiovascularly inclined, like jumping rope or stepping up and down on a bench. The rest should be large-muscle-group moves (focused on the back, chest, core, glutes, and quads) that require full-body movements (think lunges, push-ups, squats, and plank holds). Do each exercise 2-3 times---circuit-style is ideal---with 30-60-second rests in between moves.

And don't forget to challenge yourself. Those 3-lb-dumbbell workouts frequently featured in women's health mags are often for beginners. Choose exercises that are the appropriate intensity for you, and ramp up the difficulty by shortening the rest between exercises a little each week.

That's it---you've got yourself a workout. Whether you make it happen is up to you.

Who's Afraid of a Ten-Pound Dumbbell?

This week I'll be spending a lot of time packing, getting ready for a move into my new house. Which may not only account for my infrequent entries here on Gymspy, but which may also provide some extra physical activity---a good thing since I may not have time to get all my workouts in this week. But that's okay. I'll be lifting/pushing/dragging boxes around, painting, and hardcore cleaning, so active will be the Word.

If you have the---and I'll use this word loosely---luxury of lifting heavy things or performing other manual labor for a living, give yourself a pat on the back. You're in the fortunate position of not being sedentary, and all that hauling has likely given you some muscle tone you wouldn't have if your butt were glued to a desk chair all day. And if you strength train on top of that, I'm guessing you use heavier weights than five pounds, right? You who haul boxes or bricks or crates of milk cartons scoff at the notion of lifting with puny dumbbells.

And yet a number of exercisers, particularly those who are sedentary the rest of the time, are somehow terrified of lifting "heavy." They fear bulking up or hurting themselves. These are legit concerns of inexperienced exercisers; however, those who've been doing this a while should, frankly, know better.

For years exercise experts, wellness websites, fitness magazines, and celebrity trainers alike have been pushing the idea that selecting heavier weights in and of itself will not cause you to bulk up. Not if you're a women, not if you're not training almost daily, and not if you're not following a regimented diet geared for mass building. The casual exerciser, who lifts two or three days a week and performs a full-body circuit, will develop increased muscle tone---not size---but only if she challenges herself. Using the same 5-lb dumbbells and performing the same exercises week after week will not bring continued results.

And if you fear you'll hurt yourself by going heavier or that you're not performing the exercises correctly? That's what trainers are for. Talk to an expert to confirm whether you're ready for a greater challenge.

So T.O.'s Not Invincible---Good News for the Rest of Us!

Many of you have likely caught the clip of model Joanna Krupa going off on NFL star Terrell Owens for his part in their early elimination from the new ABC show "Superstars." For those who missed it, here's a summary: the pair had to fight to remain on the show, in which celebs paired with athletes compete in a series of athletic events, by running an obstacle course. Said course featured a series of heavy nets slung like hammocks that the players had to climb through just before crossing the finish line. The general strategy, as demonstrated with surprising nimbleness by Warren Sapp, was to roll sideways onto the net like a log so that flailing limbs wouldn't get tangled. Apparently T.O. didn't get that memo---to the dismay of Krupa, his partner, he got caught up in that net like a lobster in a trap, his foot having ensnared itself in the ropes. This cost the duo, who had been projected to win the whole thing, that round, and with Krupa's failure to catch Lisa Leslie on the next round, led to their elimination from the show.

Krupa's angry rant in the aftermath of their loss included such jewels as "Calls himself an athlete," and "What does he get a million dollars for?" I suppose her frustration was justifiable at the time---when your partner is a world-class athlete, of course you expect to do well in an athletic competition. But let's face it; athletic ability aside, these things happen. And such things beg the acknowledgment that there are many definitions of "athlete," just as there are many different skill sets involved in being an athlete. Speed and strength are among them, but so are endurance and agility (and apparently, the ability to problem-solve). Just because Terrell Owens is a superior football player does not mean he'll excel at, say, kayaking.

Likewise, in the athletic sphere of the average human, the gym, just because you don't have the heaviest bench or can't complete the most pull-ups does not mean you can't excel at other things. "Fitness" can be defined---and accomplished---in a lot of ways. So you can't lift heavy weights...have you ever tried bodyweight exercises? Being able to complete a perfect set of single-leg squats or push-ups is an enviable ability, more impressive as far as I'm concerned than putting up stacks of 45s on the bench press. (We get it; you spend a LOT of time on your chest. What else can you do?) So is keeping up with the choreography in kickboxing class, or running 3 miles on the treadmill without stopping, or being able to perform a box jump onto a high bench (which many of you can do; you just haven't tried). The message here? Find the thing that you're good at, and work on getting better at it.

Remember that not having the biggest guns or the least body fat is not the worst thing that can happen. At least you haven't been beat in a race by David Charvet.

Top 5 Exercises You May Be Doing Wrong...and How to Fix Them

One of a trainer's biggest pet peeves, aside from rude gymgoers, is watching people perform exercises incorrectly. It really gets to us. Sometimes we're annoyed by total disregard for form in the name of lifting heavier weights; often we're just concerned about your safety. But many of us aren't comfortable approaching you on the gym floor to let you know your form needs work. We don't want you to think that we're superior know-it-alls or, worse, that we're trying to sell you something. Likewise, we know you're not always comfortable asking us for help.

So, on behalf of my fellow trainers, for your sake and for our sanity, I'd like to offer my list of the top five exercises I see done incorrectly and suggestions for ways to improve your form.

Exercise #1: Lat Pull Downs. You know this one, with the wide bar hanging from a cable where you sit on the seat and pull it down in front of you. It works your latissimus dorsi ("lats"), a large muscle on either side of your mid-back. What You're Doing Wrong: There are several rather offensive versions of this one I've witnessed: jerking the bar down and letting it pull your body weight off the seat on the way up, rounding your shoulders forward and pulling it to your stomach, and the biggest no-no, pulling it behind your neck instead of in front of you. How to Fix It: Lean back slightly, keeping your chest lifted, and bring the bar no lower than the top of your chest. Your elbows should end up tight to your sides with your forearms vertical and hands pointing up, so that your arms form a "W." Squeeze your shoulder blades down and together at the bottom of the movement, and then slowly let the bar back up without lifting your shoulder blades or shrugging your shoulders.

Exercise #2: Romanian Dead Lifts. They sound exotic, but you've likely seen someone doing them, or you might do them yourself. These involve holding a bar or dumbbells in front of you and bending forward from the hips with legs straight as if you're trying to touch your toes, then standing back up. They work your low back, glutes, and hamstrings. What You're Doing Wrong: The most common offense here is leaning forward with a rounded back instead of controlling the movement with the legs. How to Fix It: Start with your chest lifted, back slightly arched, legs straight (but don't lock knees), and weight shifted back onto your heels. Keeping your abs in tight and your back nice and straight, start pushing your hips back and slide the weight down the front of your legs until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings. It should take you about 3 seconds to get down. (Do not round your back to get down lower.) At this point your body should be forming an inverted triangle from the side view. Squeeze your butt and stand up a little more quickly than you came down by pushing your hips forward until you're standing up straight.

Exercise #3: Bicep Curls. Seemingly the simplest of strength-training moves, this is probably the one I see done wrong most often. What You're Doing Wrong: Going too fast, using momentum ("swinging" the weights), and using your torso to get the weight up are most common. How to Fix It: First, hold still. If you're moving your body, you're cheating. Instead, pull in your ab muscles to keep your core in place. Second, slow down and control the movement. It should take a couple of seconds each way to get the weight up and down. No swinging allowed. Finally, keep your upper arms glued to your sides at all times. If this part of your arm is moving, then your shoulder joint is moving, which means that your shoulder muscles are helping the movement. This is an isolation move, so biceps only.

Exercise #4: Tricep Pushdowns. This is another basic arm-strengthening move frequently gone haywire. It involves attaching a rope or bar to an overhead pulley, standing under it, and extending your arms downward to work your triceps. What You're Doing Wrong: I often see people moving their entire arms up and down in front of them and letting the cable jerk their arms back up following the extension. How to Fix It: To do this isolation move correctly, you have to squeeze your upper arms against your sides and keep them still. If you're moving your shoulder joint at all, you're not isolating your triceps. The only thing that should be moving is your elbow joint, which will straighten as you use your triceps to press the weight down. Then, on the way up, go slowly and control the movement, allowing a few seconds for your elbow to bend back to 90 degrees. Make sure not to round your shoulders forward, which will cause your traps, or shoulder-shrugging muscles, to get involved.

Exercise #5: Crunches. Ah, crunches. Everyone knows them, and yet so few of us do them correctly. The following rules of form apply whether you're doing them on the floor or over a ball. What You're Doing Wrong: The most common mistakes are bringing your elbows up (and thus pulling forward on your head and neck) and rapidly jerking off the floor with the back muscles. How to Fix It: Keep your elbows wide and your chin pulled in slightly, and look straight up at the ceiling. If your head and elbows move forward, you're not using your abs---you're using your neck. Slowly curl your spine like a "C" and lift your shoulder blades off the floor, exhaling as you lift. Pause at the top, and then inhale and lower slowly. Your low back should maintain contact with the floor or ball at all times. If you can't perform this movement without jerking, your low back muscles may be too tight to allow for adequate spinal flexion. Try placing your legs over a chair or stability ball so that your hips and knees are bent to 90 degrees to improve range of motion.

Your Cardio Crises---Solved!

Ah, it's June again. In many parts of the country, now's the perfect time to get out of the sweaty, smelly, stuffy gym and take our workouts outdoors---unless it's already 90-plus degrees with nearly 100-percent humidity, as it is where I live. As such, my fellow gym-goers and I continue our health-club confinement, and it's getting to some of us. I can see it on the faces of the folks crowding the cardio equipment night after night: they're over it.

We all have our reasons for not loving cardio. It's tedious, and well, it's hard! So, for those of you stuck indoors like I am, I'd like to offer my solution for whatever cardio-related issue confounds you, frustrates you, and deters you from your workouts. Here we go...

Problem: You hate the treadmill; you prefer your workouts to be a social affair.
Solution: Ditch the treadmill and try a group-exercise class. Whether it's dance, Spinning, or kickboxing, there's sure to be a cardio offering that suits your interests and level of coordination.

Problem: You're just not motivated when you're on your own.
Solution: Hire a trainer. (What? You knew it was coming.) It's too expensive, you say? Most trainers will accomodate a limited budget by offering 30-minute workouts or agreeing to meet infrequently, such as every other week. You can also save money by working out with one or more friends; group training means a significant discount per person.

Problem: You're not feeling challenged.
Solution: Odds are you've gotten into a rut of using the same program every time you get on a machine. To mix it up, try incorporating high-intensity intervals or experimenting with the machine's various functions, such as the incline.

Problem: You're sick of the elliptical.
Solution: So why not try something different? You're body will respond favorably to a change in your routine. Now's as good a time as any to try out the stepmill or take a boxing class.

Problem: "Losing that last 10 pounds" isn't as motivating a reason to work out as it used to be.
Solution: Sign up for a event. It can be a 5k run, a walk for your favorite charity, or, if you live in a large city, a skyscraper stair climb. Having something personally meaningful to achieve (and a set deadline in which to achieve it) can give you a new reason to work hard at the gym.

Problem: You need a change of scenery.
Solution: You can always suck it up and go outside. You just won't see me out there.

Got 30 Minutes? Then You've Got a Workout.

Ever notice those people who show up at the gym, put in 15 minutes on the elliptical and...leave? It makes you wonder why they even bother. On the other hand, I've met a number of people who, if they can't carve out at least an hour in their day for a workout, won't bother.

The truth is, if you've got even a half hour to dedicate to a workout, you should use it. But you should make it worth your while. The most efficient workout you can squeeze into 30 minutes isn't complicated, though it is challenging. Here's what you do:

• Plan on doing mainly strength moves, but do them circuit style: perform one set of each exercise back-to-back with no rest, and then repeat the circuit twice for a total of three sets.
• Choose eight exercises (helps to plan these in advance) that work a variety of muscle groups, focusing on the body parts you want to work most: planks for your abs or reverse lunges for your butt, for example.
• Choose two additional exercises to insert into your circuit (I like to do one of these midway through the circuit and one at the end) that will serve as your "cardio" intervals, things like jumping jacks, squat jumps, or burpees, that will get and keep your heart rate up.
• Expect to spend 45-90 seconds on each strength move, and 30-60 seconds on each cardio interval. Each complete circuit should take roughly 10 minutes.
• Ideally, focus on bodyweight exercises, which you can do without having to set up equipment or move to another location, and use dumbbells, Body Bars, or medicine balls.
• Extra credit: Choose combo moves like lunges with bicep curls to get even more out of your workout session.

The best thing about a workout like this is that you can take it anywhere. No gym required=no more excuses.

On Cardio and Distractions

Over the weekend the health club where I work switched out its old tube TVs with sleek new flatscreens (we're a little behind the times here in the South). The new TVs look great, but our gym has yet to transition from the old tune-your-radio (?!)-to-this-station-to-get-sound system. No Cardio Theater here. Which means no audio.

I generally like to watch HGTV while I run. Music gets the job done too, but TV can be a really effective distraction from the general suckiness of a cardio workout. Sure, every once in a while I'm in just the right frame of mind, where a certain song will get me "in the zone." Then, I just tune everything out and go. But that's just every once in a while. The rest of the time I need my Design on a Dime.

And that's fine. As a trainer I'm generally aware of how hard I need to push myself to see results, so having something to take my mind off my heart rate of 190 is not a problem. Many people, however, seem to have it backwards. Entertainment comes first, and exercise is the thing they tolerate while they catch up on their reading. But there's a big difference between watching TV while doing sprint intervals and leafing through an issue of People while pedaling idly on the recumbent bike. That difference? One's a workout, and the other...well, you could call it activity. Not fat-burning, heart-strengthening, body-changing activity, but it's moving.

And for some people, that's something. Injured, elderly, or morbidly obese people. The rest of us need to concentrate on getting---ideally---20-plus minutes of interval training. And interval training requires paying attention: to the clock, to changing intensity (whether in speed or resistance), and to how difficult the work is, so that we know when we need to take it up a notch.

If you can do that while reading War and Peace, congratulations---you are an impressive multitasker. Just don't hurt yourself.

Bad Behavior

A harsh reality of working out in a health club is that it's not yours. You have to share the space and equipment with several hundred other people who are likely equally perturbed that they have to share it with you. It's a concession we make to have access to all those fancy machines we can't afford to put in our homes. So we make the best of it, abandon our OCD and antisocial tendencies, wipe that last guy's sweat from the treadmill, smile politely at the infuriatingly cheery front desk staff, and go about our business.

Most of us, that is. There always seem to be a few regulars who eschew the spirit of cooperation, never letting the rest of us forget that 1) they're there, and 2) they'd prefer us not to be. These types are either desperate for attention or hellbent on taking out their frustrations on everyone near them---sometimes both. This is often expressed with loud, angry grunting, giving you the evil eye if you dare ask to work in a set, and being obnoxious just because they can.

There's a guy at my gym---I'd put him in his early 50s---who insists on popping his gum as loudly as possible whenever someone approaches the elliptical machine next to his. It's like he's firing a warning shot: get too close and you're gonna pay! He reminds me of a member at the last club where I worked who used to let out the occasional huge belch. He didn't care if anyone was nearby; if anything he did it because they were nearby.

Whether the bad behavior is claiming a bench with a gym bag or refusing to wipe sweat off the equipment, the common thread here seems to be a sense of entitlement. I was here first; I'm in here every day, I can do what I want; I'm bigger than you. It's like the driver on a crowded freeway who won't allow entering traffic to merge. We share the road; similarly, we have to share the health club. At least until we're all so rich that we can afford home gyms.

I've Been Baaaddd...

So I admit freely that I've been neglecting my blogging duties. But I swear it's for a good reason. I've actually been kind of busy. Working outside of the house has forced me, now that the adjustment period is over, to figure out how to better manage my time. This got me thinking about how much easier it is to be productive when you've got to fit things in.

When you're unemployed, or on break from school, or working from home---when you don't necessarily have to do things on a set time frame---it's easy to get a little, shall we say, apathetic about a lot of things that need to get done. Like working out. Because if you've got all day, you'll reassure yourself that you'll get around to it, and then? Well, you might not.

If, on the other hand, you only have so much room in your day for a session at the gym, you'll take more care to schedule that time for yourself. And then? You'll be more likely to actually go. Everyone should do this, really, whether you work 14 hours a day or 4. Put a minimum of 3 weekly workouts into your calendar, and GO.

We're all busy, after all. I guess that excuse won't cut it anymore.

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone, Already

(Before I begin, my apologies for the lack of new posts these last couple of weeks. There's been the adjustment to the new job, then a weeklong trip for a friend's wedding...Anyways, gonna try to be a little more consistent going forward!)

Now that I'm settling back into the health-club environment, I'm becoming aware of who the regulars are---who comes in when, how often they work out, and what exercises they choose. It's not hard to keep track because, frankly, people tend to stick with what they know. Which is typically limited to a few exercises.

And who can blame them? They're not fitness experts---that's my job.

What concerns me is not that a given gymgoer only knows how to perform six or eight exercises. It's that he appears unwilling to incorporate variety into his routine. As a trainer I often ask people what they do for their workouts. Maybe it's the elliptical followed by a machine circuit. I'll then ask why they choose this equipment. The general response: it's what they know. The other stuff, not so much.

So if you know that your familiarity with your gym's equipment or with other exercise styles is lacking, why not do something about it? If you always do the same routine (and if so, you've GOT to be getting bored) why not seek out some new ideas?

Often we avoid trying anything different simply because we don't want to screw up in front of other people---we don't want to do it wrong, and we don't want to look stupid. Completely understandable. That's why it's a good idea to hire a trainer for even one session. He or she can at the very least show you a few things to add to your repertoire.

Remember that the only way to see change is to shake things up a bit; otherwise your body adapts to the exercise stimulus, and change---be it in the form of weight loss or strength gain---comes more slowly, if at all.

Now if only I could get the members at my gym to realize this...

Can't We All Just Get Along?

I've finally gone back to work training, once again, at a larger-scale health club (hence the rescinding of my identity; here on the blog I'll once again be known as GymSpy to avoid any conflict of interest). It's a bit of a departure from my last club, which was very up-to-date, very shiny, very well maintained. The new workplace, under new management, is about to get a facelift: flat screen TVs, new equipment, new coat of paint. But many of its members are of the old-school persuasion---lots of meatheads, basically---which is a major shift from the Pilates enthusiasts and marathon runners I'm used to seeing. Even the heavy lifters at my last club were barely discernible from the yoga-loving crowd. Sometimes they were into both. But not here.

Yesterday I saw a young guy in socked feet looking for a place on the weight-room floor to do his sun salutations in front of the mirror, awkwardly sandwiching himself between rows of Hammer Strength and Cybex machines in search of a spot. (Which, unfortunately, ended up being five feet directly behind the Smith machine where I was working out. It was all I could do to keep a straight face while, as I was performing lunges, he loudly went through the motions of inhaling and exhaling.) I can only imagine how some of the bigger guys must react to his noisy exaltations, and hope that the updated facility will include a larger stretching area, where he won't stand out like such a sore thumb.

Even I find the free-weight area to be a little intimidating, given how Y-chromosome-dominant the space is. I kind of miss the all-inclusive atmosphere of my old gym. But I'm here now. So I claim a bench, pretend not to notice the stares, and try to be a little less conspicuous than Yoga Guy.

Working Out...Or Just Goofing Off?

I can't help but notice that some people spend more time at the gym putzing around than focusing on their workouts: watching TV, checking themselves out in the mirror, or texting. Based on my (clearly very scientific) observations, the average person spends at least 3 minutes taking a break for every 30 seconds they spend lifting.

Now, regardless of your workout goals, I don't know of any fitness experts who would recommend this work/rest ratio. Bottom line: it's unfocused, and it's inefficient. And it often leads to gym sessions that drag on longer than two hours.

If you're serious about improving some aspect of your fitness---whether it's losing weight or gaining muscle---then you want to avoid this kind of aimless workout. (And if you're not serious about making a change, ask yourself: why do you do it?)

One way to accomplish this is to consider how much rest you actually need. Generally, the heavier you're lifting, the longer rest intervals you need. Your repetition range is what determines the weights you choose, so if you're performing only 6-8 reps with heavy weights, you'll need about 120 seconds of rest (your set will take up to 45 seconds). If you're doing 10 reps, rest up to 90 seconds, 12 reps, up to 60 seconds, and so forth.

If like me you like your resistance training in the form of high-intensity circuits, you don't need a dedicated rest period (save for catching your breath). This is assuming you don't work the same muscle groups back to back---you might do a set of rows followed by lunges followed by planks, or you might alternate between push and pull exercises, like chest presses followed by rows.

The best advice I can give to ensure your workout is efficient and effective is to have a plan going in. You don't have to write it down---you can plan it in your head---but try to really think about how you want to use your (precious!) time. Not only will you look like you know what you're doing (who really wants to wander around picking exercises at random?), you'll gain the confidence that comes with walking into the gym with a purpose.

Cardio before Weights? Consider the Alternative.

Like many of you, I'm not a big cardio person. I truly enjoy strength training, whereas cardio is that tedious bit of my workout I feel compelled to "get out of the way" before I can get to my weight-training session. So, like many of you, I generally do my cardio workout (25-30 minutes) before I do my lifting (30-35 minutes).

A question we trainers are frequently asked is whether it's better to do cardio before or after weights. Though the answer can be invariably complex---and depend on the client's goals---historically I've given what, to me, is a common-sense answer: Do the thing you're least likely to do first. That is, if motivation is an issue, and you know that you won't stick around for another half hour to use the elliptical after an intense weight workout, or you won't put as much energy into it, it might be a better idea to get the cardio out of the way first.

This response, I've decided, is a bit of a cop-out. It implies that cardio is nothing but a throwaway aspect of your workout, or that one is more valuable than the other. And while the industry has long been divided over the correct response to the cardio-before-weights question, more recent studies are showing a benefit both in muscle hypertrophy and fat loss to doing your resistance training first. Several high-profile trainers like Tony Hale and Jillian Michaels are in this camp.

Here's their explanation: During exercise, our bodies burn fuel in this order---glycogen (stored carbohydrates in muscle and liver tissue) first, then fat stores. Though opinions differ here, it can take up to 30 minutes for the body to burn through its glycogen. The idea, then, is that if you do 30 minutes of cardio, you'll have depleted the energy your muscles require for strength training (which is anaerobic and depends on glycogen), as well as forfeited your opportunity to burn your fat stores during cardio. However, if you weight train first, you'll burn up your glycogen, leaving your body free to burn fat during cardio. Here and here you'll find articles further explaining this theory.

On the other hand, many trainers and exercise physiologists dismiss the "fat-burning zone" as myth. They argue that doing a moderate 30-40 minutes of cardio doesn't come close to burning up the glycogen you need to get through a weight workout (provided you get the proper nutrition before your workout), and that fat burn has more to do with total calories expended than anything else. Here and here are articles expounding on this argument.

So what's the right answer? First, consider your goals. Whether you're working out for weight loss, increased muscle mass, or strength gain plus fat loss, we know this much: it's a good idea to fit both cardio and strength into every workout. A move away from the old thinking that you had to do five cardio sessions per week and only a couple of strength workouts, this is advice that many fitness experts do agree upon.

Now, if endurance training is your main objective, like training for a marathon, then you want to put the bulk of your energy expenditure into cardio training and should put that first. Likewise, if you're a competitive bodybuilder or just trying to achieve bulk, putting weights first is advisable. For everyone else: I would suggest giving both methods a try. Everyone's body is different; therefore it's hard to predict that the same technique will work equally well for all people. If, like me, you tend to do cardio first, switch it up for a month and see if you get better or renewed results. At the very least, you'll be breaking from routine.

How Not to Hurt Yourself While Working Out

Today I received a letter from my health insurance company informing me that individual coverage is apparently not available in the state of North Carolina. Which means I'll be shopping around for new coverage, which means I'll be trying my damndest not to get hit by a bus or contract scurvy until that kicks in. I'll also be exercising greater care in the one place I'm most likely to get injured: the gym. Ok, so I know most injuries occur in the home. (Whatever, just go with it.)

Exercise-related injuries are a regular thing, and they're generally caused by overtraining, incorrect form, or improper use of equipment. In other words, they're your fault. Unfortunately, it's hard to know when you're doing something wrong until you hurt yourself.

So I've done by best to come up with a list of common mistakes that can lead to injury, followed by advice on how not to get yourself hurt. All helpful, natch.

1. Watch where you're going. It's a gym; there's a lot of crap in there to bump into and trip over. I know, it's easy to get distracted by all the sweaty grunting people and the big shiny flatscreens, but keep an eye out for dumbbells on the floor or flailing body parts.
2. Turn the machine on, then start moving on it. Sounds like a given, right? I'm mostly referring to the treadmill. It's a good idea to stand on the side rails, get the machine moving at a slow speed, and then carefully step onto the tread and increase speed. Of course, some machines won't power on until you start pedaling, like many elliptical trainers. Not much you can do about that.
3. Warm up. I repeat, warm up. It never fails to amaze how many people I see step onto the treadmill, push the start button, and then start running. I'm not even capable of that---I need a good four or five minutes of walking to get my body prepared to run. Without a warm-up, don't be surprised if you experience shin pain, or side pangs, or muscle cramping. Instead, begin at a low intensity and gradually increase to workout intensity over a period of five minutes or so. This will redirect blood flow to the muscles you'll be using, making them more pliant and sending them the oxygen they need to perform optimally, resulting in better muscle endurance (and less pain) for your cardio workout.
4. Warm up for resistance exercises, too. Perform movements at a low (or no) weight that mimic the exercises you'll be doing in your workout. Avoid passive stretching; you need to prepare your muscles for the varied and often extreme ranges of motion you're about to put them through.
5. Lift with your legs. This old adage is trying to tell you not to pick up weights with your back. Which is good advice, but an even better suggestion? Lift with your legs and core. You always want to activate your deepest abdominal muscles, the transverse abdominus, in preparation for any lifting movement. This means drawing your abs in toward your low back (while still breathing) before pressing up through a squat or deadlift, lifting dumbbells in a front raise---anything that could aggravate your back.
6. Wear proper attire. We've talked about this before, so I'll sum up this point as follows: Breathable shirt. Breathable shorts/pants. Loose or stretchy to allow for movement. Supportive shoes with cushioned soles. Sandals are unacceptable. Got it?
7. Don't swing anything or do anything involving lots of momentum. Plenty of exercise descriptions employ words like "swing" or "kick" to give you a visual of a movement. A leg extension, for instance, might involve "kicking" your lower leg out from the knee joint. In reality, however, most strength training movements involve actions like squeezing, contracting, or flexing. Meaning that there should be focused, intentional muscle movement at all times. Even if it looks like a kick.
8. Breathe. Tensing up through the back, shoulders, and chest can be an indication that you're not breathing properly, and therefore not opening up your muscles to allow for complete and correct movement. So relax, let your shoulders fall down and back, open your chest, relax your grip a little, and breathe.
9. Take a day off. A major cause of gym-related injury is not giving your body time to repair and recover from exercise. So is doing the same workout over and over. Together, these are known as overtraining. So mix it up, and give yourself a break from time to time. You've certainly earned it.

How to Share Weight Equipment (and Be Nice About It)

I want to revisit the subject of gym etiquette, and I'm going to tryyyyy to do it sans angry soapbox. What can I say? Must be feeling warm and fuzzy today...

In particular, I'd like to talk about the proper way to share strength equipment. I don't do a lot of machine work as a general rule, but I often avoid it all together at my fitness center because most of the other residents use weight machines exclusively, save for the occasional set of dumbbell bicep curls. So I typically have the free-weight area to myself, which is how I like it.

Today, however, there was only one other person in the gym when I finished doing cardio, and he was on the upright bike, so I figured I was safe to do a circuit of five machine exercises: four of them on the dual cable column, plus some lat pulldowns. All was going smoothly until a new guy came in and sat down on the lat pull, not to use it but because he clearly wanted to get on the cable column. I know this because he stared at me (all the more awkward because he was sitting literally two feet from where I was standing, and the stare was directed mostly at my butt) until I turned around and gestured toward the lat pull. He helpfully got out of the way---and promptly removed the bar I'd been using and replaced it with another handle. (Note: The dual cable column has two separate weight stacks, and I was only using one. He could have easily set up shop on the other side...but whatever, not here to complain.) I completed a second set of lat pulls and relocated; he stayed on that one cable stack for the remainder of my workout.

Ok, so this anecdote is clearly meant to be illustrative of what not to do. But rather than analyze why this was so jerky of him, let's replay the situation the polite way. I'll be me, and you'll be you, wanting to use the machine I'm on:

You: (Enters the gym, waits patiently at a distance of no less than six feet away for me to finish my set, eyes averted, pretending to watch TV) Hey, would you mind if I work in some sets with you?

Me: (Smiles graciously) Sure thing, I'll be on the lat pull, then I have just one more set to finish here and it's all yours!

You: (Returns the smile) No problem!

Or, in an alternate scenario:

You: (See above) Hey, will I be in your way if I set up on the other side?

Me: (Same deal) No problem, I've got just one more set to finish here and then I'll be out of your hair!

You: (Yep) Thanks!

See how easy (and cheery, no less) that was? Everybody wins, and nobody gets the stinkeye.